Cinder Fall/Affiliation
Affiliations Cinder's Faction Cinder leads a group of five individuals consisting of herself, Roman Torchwick, Emerald Sustrai, Mercury Black and Neopolitan. The ultimate goal of this group is to aid Cinder in completing Salem's orders as a part of Salem's group. They are responsible for many crimes committed throughout Vale. Salem's Inner Circle Cinder is a member of Salem's group. She carries out the group's plan to destroy Beacon Academy, and she also greatly limits communication by destroying Beacon's Cross Continental Transmit System tower. Haven Academy Cinder poses as a student from Haven Academy during the entire semester at Beacon Academy leading up to the Vytal Festival. White Fang Cinder pressures Adam Taurus into accepting her offer to use White Fang members for her plan. Although not a member of the White Fang, Cinder and her associates are insistent on Roman Torchwick working with the group. Following the events of "Breach", she and her associates begin to wonder if the White Fang will still cooperate with them, for their plan resulted in White Fang casualties. They need White Fang cooperation to help execute the fall of Beacon Academy, and Adam successfully commands a splinter group to do so. Adam Taurus Cinder approaches Adam before his attack on the Schnee Dust cargo, proposing him and White Fang soldiers a part in her plan. He is repulsed by the idea of aiding a human cause, but Cinder later returns with a briefcase of money and another of Dust, also having defeated the soldiers at the White Fang camp. Adam realizes that the alternative to accepting her offer is death, so he accepts. In the episode "Breach", Adam says he can convince the White Fang to continue to follow Cinder's plan after the loss of members on the train in "No Brakes". Cinder's Faction Emerald Sustrai Emerald is one of Cinder's subordinates. Cinder has been shown to have direct control over her. When scolded by Cinder, Emerald becomes sad and submissive, calling her "ma'am". Despite her normally condescending attitude towards Emerald, Cinder appears to view her and Mercury as her teammates, always referring to their trio as "we", and never excludes them. Emerald eagerly obeys Cinder and does whatever she is asked by her, holding a strong amount of respect for her leader. It is revealed in "Beginning of the End" that Emerald was the first member of her faction that Cinder sought out, recruiting her to her cause while Emerald was in the process of a robbery. After Cinder is severely wounded by Ruby Rose, she becomes reliant on Emerald to communicate with others for her, to the point that, when asked questions, her automatic response is to signal for Emerald, as shown in "Of Runaways and Stowaways." Emerald places a great deal of trust in Cinder's power, and is left emotionally devastated when she does not return from the vault in "Haven's Fate." Mercury Black Mercury is one of Cinder's associates. Like Emerald, Cinder has Mercury under her direct control and scolds him whenever he displeases her. However, their relationship is more mutual in comparison. Mercury holds Cinder in high regard, placing a lot of confidence in her and doing everything she asks of him. It is revealed in "Beginning of the End" that when the Cinder met Mercury, the latter had killed his father, an assassin who Cinder had initially intended to recruit. As a result, she ended up inviting Mercury instead, despite Emerald's protests that they did not need him. For his part, Mercury recognizes that Cinder does not truly care for him. Roman Torchwick Cinder is one of Roman's associates, assisting him in the escape stage of the failed robbery of From Dust Till Dawn by flying the Bullhead and later assaulting Ruby and Glynda Goodwitch in a brief, but fierce battle. However, it is shown during her second appearance in "Black and White" that Roman is working under Cinder's command and is afraid of her. Roman has stated that he only works with her because he does not believe she can lose. In "The Coming Storm", Cinder denies responsibility for Torchwick's death. Neopolitan Neo is part of Cinder's team during the Vytal Festival tournament along with Mercury and Emerald. They are an effective team in combat. They work together in "Beginning of the End" to get Mercury out of the Amity Colosseum. In "The Coming Storm", Cinder is attacked by Neo, who blames her for Roman's death. However, as they fight, Cinder manages to convince her that Ruby is the one responsible and then invites girl to work with her to kill Ruby. In "The Grimm Reaper", Cinder offers to allow Neo to kill Ruby, as she is under orders to let the Silver-Eyed Warrior live, a deal which Neo accepts. In "Our Way", Cinder is impressed with Neo's ability to disguise a Mistralian airship as a Manta using her Semblance and shares her belief in destiny with her cohort. Later during the events of "Out in the Open" Neo has been shown to have a mild amount of irritation towards Cinder, due to her having to complete jobs not immediately aligned with her goal of killing Ruby. Neo displays this by rolling her eyes at Cinder and even briefly refusing when she is ordered to prioritize obtaining the Lamp and finding the Winter Maiden. Later upon Cinder's failure to obtain the Winter Maiden powers in "The Enemy of Trust",Neo again displays her frustration and growing dislike for the Maiden due to her again underappreciated Neo's efforts,as seen when Neo displayed a clear look of frustration as Cinder nonchalantly took the Lamp without thanking or acknowledging her success or efforts. Salem's Inner Circle Salem Cinder is one of Salem's subordinates. She is heard speaking to an unidentified individual in "Beginning of the End"; most likley Salem. The mysterious glove that Cinder uses to steal Amber's power in "Beginning of the End" bears Salem's emblem. After the Fall of Beacon, Salem states that Cinder is a key part of their plans due to her status as Fall Maiden and holds her in high regard for her successes against Ozpin and Beacon. Salem functions not only as Cinder's superior but also as her trainer. She puts Cinder through "treatment" that causes pain and holds her to a high standard when overseeing her training against several Grimm. Eventually, Cinder masters her power and uses it with no hesitation, much to Salem's delight. Cinder is not above questioning some of Salem's decisions. In "Dread in the Air", when given freedom to speak her mind, she questions why they are planning to work with bandits and to capture Ruby alive, believing they are already strong enough to take what they want by force. Salem tells her not to underestimate the usefulness of others. Despite Cinder questioning Salem she also is shown to respect her immensely bowing to her after Salem warned her to be aware of Ruby Rose's powers. In "The Coming Storm" and "The Grimm Reaper", Cinder to an extent still shows loyalty to Salem despite wanting revenge on Ruby Rose, but due to Salem's command, she decided to arrange for Neo to kill her in order to avoid possible consequences or end up like Lionheart. Arthur Watts Although allies, Cinder and Watts appear to have a rough relationship. Watts mercilessly mocks her for losing to Ruby, even calling her pathetic due to her injuries. Watts takes special pleasure in tormenting and angering Cinder because of her inability to talk back, but judging from some of his comments, Watts and Cinder also had a preexisting enmity before she lost her voice. Said enmity is further shown in "A Perfect Storm", when Cinder suggests deviating from the original objective in solely obtaining the Spring Maiden, inciting Watts in the process, though she burns his hand in response to him trying to overrule her. Tyrian Callows In "The Next Step", Cinder appears to dislike Tyrian, who continuously mocks her for losing an eye to Ruby. He takes it upon himself to take one of Ruby's eyes in exchange, but this only seems to make Cinder uncomfortable. In "Taking Control", Tyrian is not at all embarrassed to show his grief or his sadism in front of Cinder when he vents by maniacally butchering a Beowolf. Cinder, however, is visibly horrified by his behavior. Hazel Rainart Cinder and Hazel are associates in Salem's inner circle. His only acknowledgment of her so far is to be unimpressed at her losing against a novice Silver-Eyed Warrior. In his comment, he refers to her as "one of us", which establishes he thinks of her as a peer. The two later work together to participate in the Battle of Haven, but Hazel shows no outward reaction when she does not return from the Vault. Team RWBY Ruby Rose Cinder first met Ruby indirectly during a foiled Dust robbery, where she briefly fought Ruby. The two meet again during the second semester, where an undercover Cinder claims she is visiting from Haven, alongside Emerald and Mercury. Ruby remains completely unaware, however, Cinder appears to recognize her. The two fight again during the Beacon Dance at the Cross Continental Transmit System, but Cinder retreats and keeps her identity hidden. In "End of the Beginning", Cinder kills Pyrrha in front of Ruby, which causes the latter to scream in anguish and release her hidden powers with a bright light. Cinder is caught off guard and is enveloped in the light. In "The Next Step", the results of Ruby's powers has left Cinder scarred, missing an eye, and almost unable to speak. Cinder harbors a grudge against Ruby, having specifically asked for something to be done about her during her meeting with her allies. In "No Safe Haven", Emerald creates a hallucination of Ruby in a submissive state for Cinder to burn alive. In "Dread in the Air", Cinder asks Watts if Ruby is with Qrow which he confirms. She later informs Salem that she doesn't understand why she wants Ruby alive. In "A Perfect Storm", Cinder agrees to Raven's terms so she can obtain the Relic and deal with Ruby in one night. In "The More the Merrier", Cinder ambushes Ruby with a fireball attack through Raven Branwen's portal. Later, during her fight with Jaune Arc, she is brought to her knees in pain by Ruby's power. In "Vault of the Spring Maiden", Cinder orders Lionheart to make sure that Ruby is kept alive while she heads for the vault. In "Uncovered", Cinder still holds a grudge against Ruby, as she decided to go after the girl and her friends instead of returning to Salem. In "The Coming Storm", it is revealed that Cinder is going against Salem's orders to bring Ruby to her alive by plotting to kill her. Following her arrival in Atlas, Cinder began to reprioritize her goals, choosing to classify killing Ruby as a "want," rather than a "need," such as obtaining the Relics or Maiden powers. As a result, she elects to have wait to hunt down Ruby later on. In "The Enemy of Trust", she is shown to be outright afraid of Ruby, quickly running from the Atlas Medical Facility due to again being exposed to her Silver Eyes and later angrily and violently vented her frustrations as she clutched her Grimm arm at the city of Atlas due to again being denied the power of another Maiden and Ruby's interference. Weiss Schnee Though the two have never had any form of full interaction, in "The More the Merrier", Cinder had no hesitancy in throwing a spear at the Aura-less Weiss, incapacitating her, following her fight with Vernal. Cinder showed to having enjoyed her act, sadistically smiling before and after it. Team JNPR Jaune Arc Although she had met him once after she became the Fall Maiden, when they meet again in "The More the Merrier", she has no clue who he is. During their fight, she taunts Jaune and his emotions but later becomes enraged at him for almost wounding her. After defeating Jaune, Cinder mocks him for considering the life of his friends as more valuable than his own and sadistically makes him watch as she impales Weiss with a flaming javelin. Pyrrha Nikos Although they have never been seen interacting in Volume 2, it is clear that Cinder has some unknown plans for her, telling Emerald to add her to "the list". Also, Cinder seems to be impressed by Pyrrha's Semblance. In "End of the Beginning", Cinder fights Pyrrha in Beacon Tower. Although her opponent put up a valiant fight, Cinder ultimately defeats her by shooting an arrow at Pyrrha's heel. She taunts her fallen foe, saying that the Fall Maiden's power never belonged to her, and she confirms that she believes in destiny. Cinder ends Pyrrha's life by shooting an arrow to her chest and subsequently disintegrating her. In "Our Way", Cinder quotes Pyrrha's last words to Neo to prove that she still believes in destiny. Ozpin's Group Ozpin In "Heroes and Monsters", Ozpin and Cinder finally see each other face to face. Cinder expresses her disdain for Ozpin by saying that a certain person was right about his arrogance. They fight each other in "End of the Beginning", resulting in Ozpin's apparent death. This leads Cinder to report him as dead to the rest of Salem's faction. In "Vault of the Spring Maiden", Cinder is shocked to see Ozpin before her once again. His presence gives her pause, though she manages to focus on her mission nonetheless. Qrow Branwen In "It's Brawl in the Family", It is clear that Cinder knows of Qrow's threat to her plot, but she suggests they do not change their plans after Mercury spots him at Beacon. Qrow previously interfered when Cinder stole Amber's power, only leaving with half of it. Branwen Tribe Raven Branwen Cinder, her faction, and Watts are sent to obtain the Spring Maiden from Raven. Though when Raven adds her own stipulations, Cinder sees the wisdom in her proposal and agrees to her terms. Once they travel to the Haven Vault, Cinder deems Raven overrated and encases her in ice magic. Though after she fails to obtain the Spring Maiden's powers from Vernal, she turns to see the true Spring Maiden: Raven Branwen herself. Cinder acidly remarks how the last Spring Maiden must've trusted Raven a "great deal", citing it as a mistake. The pair soon fights and during the battle, Raven calls her out for turning herself into "a monster, just for power". Though Cinder vehemently rebukes her, showing she sees Raven as no different. Though after the intense battle, Cinder is shown to be on the losing end. She then blocks a final effort from Vernal, only to be blindsided by Raven and sent falling into the abyss. Vernal Once Vernal "demonstrates" her power and identity as the Spring Maiden, Cinder looks on gleefully. When they travel to the vault in "Vault of the Spring Maiden", Cinder is impressed that Vernal sees the obtainment of the Relic of Knowledge as a burden and cares more about her tribe than anything else. When the bandit moves to open the vault, Cinder betrays her and impales her with her Grimm arm to steal the Maiden's power, and is dumbfounded when she finds nothing. Atlas Cinder has a strong hatred towards Atlas, especially their elite. She believes Atlas has hoarded and held back power from herself and others, making everyone hungrier for it, and is a part of the reason she is taking the actions she's chosen. After failing to obtain the powers of the Winter Maiden, Cinder is seen glaring angrily at the city until Neo arrives with the Relic of Knowledge. James Ironwood During the events of the first three Volumes of RWBY, Cinder has been secretly undermining and scheming the eventual Fall of Beacon, where Cinder had begun infecting the CCT systems with a virus to obtain any confidential information on Atlas to her advantage that later managed to find its way to the General's personal Scroll, accessing all of his files on various Atlas military projects, including the files and blue prints regarding Penny, greatly delighting Cinder due to her job now being much easier. After rigging the battle match up of Pyrrha Nikos and Penny Polendina and setting up Penny's brutal bifurcation, Cinder took special care to personally belittle and insult the General during her public proclamation to cause mass hysteria in Vale,as seen when she proclaimed him to be "audacious enough" to be both the General of the Atlesian Military and Headmaster to its Huntsmen Academy, and seemed to greatly enjoy mocking him on his overconfidence and arrogance. And upon the Battle of Beacon, Cinder's planted virus infected all of Ironwood's systems, turning all of his drones soldiers to attack Huntsman and innocent civilians, severely smearing both Ironwood's and Atlas's reputation and painting them as ones of those responsible for the attack during the mass chaos and confusion and due to Cinder having disabled all Cross Continental communications being transmitted and sent out of the kingdom except for her controlled videoed evidence of Grimm attacking the streets and Atlas drones attacking civilians and Huntsman, putting Ironwood in a horrible position with both Atlas and the rest of Remnant. Later revealed in Volume 7, Due Cinder's attack on Beacon and her having completely outsmarted and defeated Ironwood despite all of his resources, manpower, and military strength has left the General deeply shaken, causing him to develop severe traces of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), with his paranoia and fear of Cinder and her Master causing him to take several controversial actions that have caused other to deeply fear and think that Atlas is up to something no good, due to his paranoia James recalled his fleet from all across Remnant in order to safeguard Atlas, closing off the Kingdom's borders and restricting travel in and out of the kingdom and finally initiating a massive Dust embargo and preventing any outside Dust trade from Atlas, severely inflicting a damaging a blow to the Kingdom's economy and drawing the ire and suspicion from the other three kingdoms due to his actions, causing many of them to suspect that Atlas was preparing to start a war and attack them. However in truth, this was all done in order to insure that Cinder and her associates could not infiltrate the kingdom. Cinder in turn reveals that despite all of his counter measures against her, she still retains her original low opinion of him due to him being easily manipulable and even easier to predict, as seen where she correctly guessed that by simply scaring him a little more, he would immediately scramble to protect the Winter Maiden and send someone to her, thus making it much more easier for Cinder to locate the Maiden herself due now only having to follow one of his closest subordinates to lead her straight to the Maiden, thereby reinforcing her earlier statement that "he was as predictable as his androids". Penny Polendina During the events of the Vytal Tournament,where Cinder managed to successfully obtain Penny's blueprints and schematics and learning of her artificial nature as a literal human weapon,Cinder took great delight upon the obtaining the information and later happily announced that her job would now be a lot "easier". Later it was revealed that Cinder's true goal in obtaining information on Penny's true nature was for her to use her as an example of Atlas's and General Ironwood's "true intentions" during her public international proclamation to the world,as seen where Cinder purposefully rigged her battle during the Single's matches against Pyrrha Nikos in order to engineer her brutal dismemberment and reveal her true nature to the world,effectively putting General Ironwood and Atlas in a precarious situation due to Cinder heavily implying that they built Penny to be used as a human weapon against the other Kingdoms and showing absolutely no remorse at her actions. Later upon Cinder's attack to obtain the Winter Maiden and her subsequent confrontation with Penny, Cinder reinforces her low view of Penny, referring to her as Ironwood's puppet. She claims it's unfortunate that Penny's "death" was only temporary and later proceeded to threaten her to step aside or she will insure that no parts of her will remain to be salvaged, causing Penny to then defiantly resist against Cinder and declare that she now has "personal feelings" against Cinder's quest for power. During their Battle,Cinder frequently displayed she possessed absolutely no respect for Penny, as seen when she frequently dehumanized and degraded her and constantly referred to her as a "toy" showing that she never once acknowledged Penny as an equal,much less as another human being and later upon Penny holding on to Fria as she died,Cinder showed a clear anger and frustration at the android due to her taking her "rightful" powers of the Winter Maiden from her and again aimed a look of complete contempt at her as it is made clear that she would also kill her to obtain the power for herself. Winter Schnee Cinder sees Winter in a low regard, accusing her of being a puppet to Ironwood. In their fight, Cinder begins to rant at Winter, fully showing her contempt for the Atlas specialist and deeming her to be no better than the other selfish, self-centered and greedy Atlas elite who believe that as long as they have all the power they could keep it forever as she violently attacked her and venting her frustration and refusal to "starve". During their fight and Cinder's subsequent attempt to obtain the power of the Winter Maiden from the dying Fria, Winter manages to slash off Cinder's Shadow Hand right before she could reach the elderly Maiden, causing Cinder intense pain and sending her into a violent rage after regrowing her limb, causing the angered Maiden to begun venting her anger and frustrations at the Huntress by brutally throwing her weapons at her and begins slowly maiming and injuring the Huntress gradually before finally injuring her to the point of rendering her incapable of defending herself as Cinder prepares to stab her to death. However before Cinder could finish her off, she was stopped by the recently ascended Penny and later forced to retreat by Ruby's arrival. Fria Fria is the current Host of the Winter Maiden, thus making her one of Cinder's prime targets in her quest for power, which Cinder herself verifies in "Out in the Open". Though once she attempts to seize her powers in "The Enemy of Trust", Cinder is shocked that Fria has the audacity to resist her, even more so when Fria unleashes her full might, which surpasses that of Cinder. And when she later sees the dying Fria in the arms of Penny, Cinder completely loses her temper, furious at the possibility of anyone but herself receiving the Maiden's powers. Though after Penny receives said powers and the madwoman is forced to retreat once Ruby appears on the scene, Cinder screams in unbridled anger at being denied yet again. The Spiders Lil' Miss Malachite In "Uncovered", Cinder approaches Lil' Miss at her bar and manages to get past the bodyguards with a bag full of Lien. At first, Cinder seems unimpressed with the gangster but is then surprised that she has a whole syndicate of gangsters working on her behalf. Lil' Miss advises Cinder that "the world needs spiders," in reference to that killing her enemies isn't always the best immediate choice. In "The Coming Storm", Cinder is surprised when Lil' Miss knows who she is, thanks to Neo. Others Wyvern Cinder seems to be able to communicate with the Wyvern and it appears comforted by her words. The two seem to be on good terms as it tries to aid Cinder when she has trouble against Pyrrha. It destroys Beacon Tower in the process and allows Cinder to gain the upper hand in the conflict. Through the use of her Maiden powers, Cinder is able to influence the Wyvern's actions. The World of RWBY: The Official Companion References Category:Affiliation pages